Smugglers Pack

GOLD BRICKS

Teach us Your secret, Master! yap my Yahoos.
Then for the hardness of their hearts, and for the
softness of their heads, I taught them Magick.
But… alas!
Teach us Your real secret, Master! how to become
invisible, how to acquire love, and oh! beyond all,
how to make gold.
But how much gold will you give me for the Secret of Infinite Riches?
Then said the foremost and most foolish: Master, it
is nothing; but here is an hundred thousand
pounds.
This did I deign to accept, and whispered in his ear
this secret:
A SUCKER IS BORN EVERY MINUTE.

—Aleister Crowley, The Book of Lies

The Smugglers Pack

The Sabbat coven in Queens is led by Bishop Archimedes Mercer. In charge of LaGuardia Airport, the northern shoreline, and the many expressways that cross the borough, this coven has the tremendous responsibility of keeping the Sabbat mobile and connected. The coven is centered in an abandoned cement factory along the College Point waterfront, but has assets ranging across Queens to northwestern Nassau County. Unfortunately for the Sabbat, southern Queens remains firmly in Camarilla control, including the crown jewel of John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Officially named the Queens County Coven, Mercer’s group simply calls themselves the “Smugglers Pack.” Selected members of the pack include:

Archimedes “Admiral” Mercer
Bishop of Queens—Lasombra
A ferocious privateer who terrorized the waves during the Revolutionary War, Bishop Mercer is a loyal Lasombra who protects Queens from the Anarch shadows of central Brooklyn. He is ruthless and intelligent, exercising his power with a natural authority that binds his coven tightly together. He is also quite wealthy, but cunning enough to keep his resources concealed under a patina of ruin and decay. This smoke-screen extends to his personal appearance, as the Admiral is rarely seen wearing anything but black jeans, a cowboy shirt, and a ragged pea-coat.

Colonel Jupiter Croft
Ductus of the Smugglers Pack/Vicar of Queens—Ventrue
In charge of the region supporting La Guardia Airport, this Ventrue antitribu is a paranoid, authoritarian monster—but his effectiveness in securing this precious territory ensures Croft a place in the Sabbat equal to any Lasombra. Croft developed his skills in the Gulf War, where he served as a colonel with the U.S. Air Force Special Operations. In early 1991, Croft ran afoul of a young Ventrue in Kuwait City named Adèle Fleury. Attracted to Croft because of his resemblance to the actor Denzel Washington, Adèle tried to Dominate the colonel into a submissive feeding. She failed, and in the struggle that ensued, she nearly killed her lover. Impressed by his strength, and terrified of the consequences of murdering a high-ranking U.S. military official, the neonate foolishly Embraced her prey, and Jupiter Croft was involuntarily enrolled in the ranks of the Ventrue.

It did not go well for her. Adèle was supposed to be in hiding; on the run from the Persian Sabbat after her recently-slain Sire betrayed them to a group of Sunni vampire hunters. Within three days of Croft’s Embrace, the Sabbat discovered her hiding place and sentenced Adèle to death by diablerie. Realizing that her fledgling was a human of some importance, the Sabbat “adopted” him and arranged for him to be sent back to the States. Croft was surprisingly willing to cooperate, and adapted to his new life as a Ventrue antitribu with astonishing alacrity. Perhaps it was the gift of immortality or the promise of power; but most agree it was simply an excellent match for his cold, authoritarian personality. Within two years of settling into New York City, the former ductus of the Queens coven was killed in a plane crash over the Adirondacks, and the Admiral tapped Colonel Croft to fill his shoes.

Mina Sheridan
Nuncio—Lasombra
An English mathematician and amateur aviatrix, Mina Sheridan was Embraced in 1950 by Captain Creede Coulter. Becoming fascinated with computers in the 1960s, Mina now serves the coven as their hacker; changing flight plans, deleting cargo manifests, or delaying construction projects with the stroke of a key. She also makes an excellent nuncio—a Lasombra completely dedicated to Sabbat principles, she is in the perfect position to watch over Mercer’s coven of outlaws, making sure their rebellious tendencies are properly channeled. This political position occasionally places her at odds with the pack, but her famously vindictive tendencies help ensure general compliance.

Mina owns Spinney Hill Charter, a private airfield near Manhasset Bay, and the location of her only real source of leisure—her Miles M.77 Sparrowjet, a 1950s British racing plane she purchased after it was damaged in a fire. She rebuilt the award-winning aircraft at Spinney Hill, and takes it for midnight flights when she needs to “relieve tension.”

Mr. Vesper
Sexton—Unknown
The quintessential “man in black,” the immaculately-clad Mr. Vesper was an allied codebreaker in life, and now serves the Sabbat as a data and communications security analyst. No one knows his actual clan; and when Mina Sheridan made a surreptitious effort to pry into his past, she was surprised to discover that two million dollars of her own fortune had been donated to the Talamasca Society.

Florestan
Templar—Lasombra
A former Navy SEAL, this Lasombra neonate was born Pharaoh Stone in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and was Embraced by Mina Sheridan shortly after returning from duty. He took the name “Florestan” from Beethoven’s Fidelio, the opera that was playing during his Embrace. An expert in arms dealing, Florestan runs his operations from a long-forgotten smuggler’s den submerged beneath the waterline of Riker’s Island. Florestan maintains cordial relations with Zathael and the Sixth Hour, but he prefers to work alone, and has resisted Zathael’s efforts to organize Sabbat security across the five boroughs.

Roman Vikoja
Enforcer—Ravnos
Known informally as the “Commodore,” this Ravnos was a Croatian smuggler during World War II, and is now in charge of Queen’s northern shoreline. Occupying a yacht along the College Point waterfront, the Commodore oversees a crew composed of Ravnos, Brujah antitribu, ghouls, and allied humans. Eschewing the more political and religious aspects of the Sabbat, Roman views his work as “just business.” This pragmatic attitude helps him maintain the many complicated relationships required to keep his operation afloat. He tends to avoid the “creeps” and “crazies” of his sect, and most enjoys the company of Vivian Song, the Black Spiral Dancer assigned to Bishop Lucy’s Staten Island pack.

Fang Lizhu
Advisor—Old World Tzimisce
An Old World Tzimisce from Shanghai, Fang is responsible for maintaining contacts within Queens’ large Chinese community. The Sabbat’s expert on Asian Kindred, Fang’s status as a Tzimisce Elder is not always appreciated or understood by his countrymen, but his diplomatic approach and impeccable manners have earned him many important allies. His knowledge of organized crime is inexhaustible, from the small tongs that control human trafficking among the Chinese massage parlors to the arcane relationships entangled through the Italian, Jewish, and Irish mob families. It is said that Fang dines yearly with the Camarilla’s Don Spinozi; but no one has ever witnessed the two together.

Captain Nathaniel Coffin
Oracle—Malkavian
Captain Coffin is a Nantucket whaler who vanished at sea, returning ten years later as a Malkavian with strange powers and a terrible secret. It is whispered that he can summon shipwrecks from the bottom of the ocean, and that he once sailed with the Dutchman. Coffin himself claims that he is married to a mermaid. Although he lives in a makeshift “captain’s cabin” assembled in the cement factory, some contend that his true lair is a derelict U-boat submerged off the coast of Coney Island. Coffin’s feeding habits are a literal horror show—he enjoys rising suddenly from the waves and dragging his prey off their boats.

As might be imagined, Captain Coffin is a difficult and complex figure, and not well-liked by his own coven, who find him weird and off-putting. He compensates for his eccentricities through an impressive talent at pattern analysis. Whenever the Smugglers Pack has uncertainty about an important issue, they gather the data and offer it to the Captain. Coffin vanishes with the documents to “consult with the fishes,” usually returning a day or two later with a brilliant analysis. This ability has saved the coven millions of dollars, opened new avenues of profit, and provided an edge during times of armed conflict. Unfortunately, Coffin’s talents are not ironclad, and he sometimes returns the documents with a simple note of refusal, usually worded in nautical terms invoking Davy Jones’ Locker or the doldrums.

Sources & Notes

The core of the Gotham Sabbat was first uploaded on 31 October 2000, but the Smugglers Pack was extensively revised during the July 2018 update. The banner image incorporates a photograph of an abandoned cement factory outside of Tallahassee, and was found on Smithsonian.com.

Author: Great Quail
Original Upload: 31 October 2000
Last Modified: 9 July 2018
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
PDF Version: [Coming Soon]